Collective dismissal – notification

A German automotive supplier with 320 employees in the Silesia region decides to close one production line. The restructuring affects 45 workers. Management assumes a standard redundancy process applies. Three weeks later, the company receives a formal objection from the district labour office – because no collective dismissal notification was filed, and the trade union consultation had never started. The dismissals are now legally defective, and each affected employee may claim reinstatement or compensation.

Polish law on collective dismissals – governed by the Act on Specific Rules for Terminating Employment Relationships for Reasons Not Attributable to Employees (ustawa o szczególnych zasadach rozwiązywania z pracownikami stosunków pracy z przyczyn niedotyczących pracowników, the Collective Dismissal Act) – requires employers to complete a mandatory consultation with employee representatives and notify the district labour office before any dismissal notice is issued. The thresholds are 10 employees (in firms with fewer than 100 staff), 10% of the workforce (100–299 employees), or 30 employees (300 or more). Failure to follow the procedure renders each dismissal legally defective and exposes the employer to reinstatement orders or statutory compensation awards.

This guide walks through the full procedure step by step: who triggers the obligation, how the consultation must be conducted, what the district labour office notification must contain, and where employers most often go wrong. Three business scenarios illustrate how the rules apply in practice – for a manufacturing company, an IT employer, and a foreign investor entering the Polish market.

When does the collective dismissal obligation arise?

The Collective Dismissal Act applies when an employer intends to terminate employment for reasons not attributable to employees within a 30-day rolling window. The thresholds depend on headcount at the time the dismissals are planned. For employers with fewer than 100 staff, the trigger is 10 or more terminations. For employers with 100 to 299 employees, it is 10% of the workforce. For employers with 300 or more employees, the threshold is 30 terminations. Each figure includes not only notice-period dismissals but also terminations by mutual agreement where the employer initiates the process.

One common misconception is that fixed-term contract expirations do not count. Under Polish employment law, they do count toward the threshold if the employer declines to renew for economic reasons. A manufacturing company in Małopolska learned this during a restructuring in winter 2025 – our team identified that 12 expiring fixed-term contracts pushed the headcount over the 10% threshold, requiring full collective dismissal procedure. Identifying the threshold correctly at the outset is therefore the first critical step.

The National Labour Inspectorate (Państwowa Inspekcja Pracy, PIP) monitors compliance actively. The district labour office (powiatowy urząd pracy, PUP) receives formal notification and may object to the timeline. The Social Insurance Institution (ZUS) tracks subsequent benefit claims. All three institutions may become involved if the procedure is defective.

Count all terminations planned within any 30-day period – not just a calendar month.
Include mutual agreement terminations initiated by the employer.
Count fixed-term non-renewals driven by economic rationale.
Apply the threshold to headcount at the moment the decision is made.
Verify whether any employees hold special protection status before proceeding.

How does the consultation procedure work?

Consultation must be initiated before any dismissal notice is issued. The employer notifies the trade union (związek zawodowy) or, where no union exists, the employee representatives elected under the Works Council Act. The notice must state the reasons for the planned dismissals, the number and categories of employees affected, the proposed selection criteria, and the intended timeline. Consultation must be completed within 20 days from the date that notice is delivered – this is a hard statutory deadline, not a target.

The employer and employee representatives must negotiate in good faith. This does not mean agreement is required. It means the employer must genuinely consider proposals from the employee side. Proposals to reduce the scale of dismissals, offer retraining, or adjust the selection criteria must be addressed in writing. If a collective agreement (porozumienie zbiorowe) is reached, it governs the procedure. If no agreement is reached within 20 days, the employer may proceed unilaterally – but must document that consultation was conducted properly.

We secured reversal of a defective dismissal procedure for a logistics client in Mazowieckie (spring 2026), where the employer had sent the consultation notice by email without confirming receipt by the union. The district labour office treated the consultation as never having started. Proper service of the consultation notice – ideally by registered mail with acknowledgment of receipt – is a detail that carries significant legal weight.

Three scenarios illustrate the consultation dynamic:

Manufacturing company: A union exists. Consultation runs the full 20 days. A collective agreement sets enhanced severance at 2 months' pay per year of service.
IT employer: No union. Employee representatives must be elected first – a process that takes up to 10 days and must precede the consultation clock.
Foreign investor: Parent company abroad sets a global restructuring timeline. Polish law does not recognise foreign consultation as a substitute. A separate Polish procedure must run in parallel.

To receive an expert assessment of your consultation obligations before restructuring begins, contact info@kordeckipartners.com.

What must the district labour office notification contain?

The employer must notify the district labour office (powiatowy urząd pracy) in writing no later than the date on which the consultation notice is sent to employee representatives. This means both processes run concurrently – consultation and notification begin on the same day. The notification must contain: the employer's registered details, the reasons for the planned dismissals, the total number of employees and the number to be dismissed, the job categories affected, the planned timeline, and the selection criteria. Missing any of these elements gives the PUP grounds to object.

After consultation ends, the employer must send a second notification to the PUP confirming the outcome. If a collective agreement was reached, a copy must be attached. If no agreement was reached, the employer must explain why. The PUP then has 30 days from the date of the second notification before the first dismissal notice may take effect. This 30-day standstill period is often overlooked by employers working to tight restructuring schedules.

For employers with employees holding work permits in Poland – particularly relevant where foreign nationals are among those dismissed – notification must also account for the impact on their permit status. An EU Blue Card holder whose employment is terminated must be informed of their right to seek alternative employment. An employment lawyer in Warsaw familiar with global mobility rules will typically flag this as part of the notification checklist. See also our guide on global mobility: relocating employees to Poland from the Netherlands for cross-border context.

What to prepare – notification checklist:

Written consultation notice to trade union or employee representatives.
Simultaneous written notification to the district labour office.
Documentation of selection criteria and the rationale for each category.
Second notification to the PUP after consultation ends, with outcome attached.
30-day calendar block before the first dismissal notice takes legal effect.

Specific situations in your company require tailored analysis. Errors in the notification sequence are irreversible once dismissal notices are issued. For a tailored strategy on notification compliance, reach out to info@kordeckipartners.com.

What are the most common mistakes – and what do they cost?

The most frequent error is sequencing: employers issue dismissal notices before the 30-day standstill period expires. Under Polish employment law, a dismissal issued before the standstill period ends is legally defective. The employee may apply to the district labour court (sąd pracy) for reinstatement or compensation. Compensation is capped at 15 months' gross salary per employee. For a mid-level employee earning PLN 12,000 per month, that is PLN 180,000 per person – a figure that multiplies quickly across a workforce reduction of 30 or more.

The second common mistake involves protected employees. Polish employment law prohibits dismissal of employees on maternity leave, parental leave, or pre-retirement protection (within four years of statutory retirement age). Collective dismissal rules do not override individual protections. Including a protected employee in the dismissal list – even inadvertently – creates a separate legal claim that runs independently of the collective procedure.

A third mistake affects foreign investors specifically. Companies incorporated abroad but operating through a Polish branch are subject to Polish collective dismissal rules for employees hired under Polish employment contracts. The employer's registered seat abroad does not exempt the Polish operation. This point is examined in our article on employment law compliance for Spanish companies in Poland.

Whistleblower protection is an additional layer. Since the Polish Whistleblower Act came into force, employees who reported irregularities cannot be dismissed as part of a collective procedure without additional procedural steps. An employment lawyer in Warsaw advising on restructuring must now run a whistleblower check alongside the standard protected-employee review.

How should employers handle severance and post-dismissal obligations?

The Collective Dismissal Act provides statutory severance (odprawa) for employees dismissed under the collective procedure. The amount depends on length of service: one month's pay for employees with fewer than two years of service, two months' pay for two to eight years, and three months' pay for more than eight years. Severance is capped at 15 times the minimum wage – currently PLN 32,145 (based on the 2026 minimum wage of PLN 4,300 per month multiplied by 15). Severance is paid on the date employment ends, not on a deferred schedule.

Post-dismissal, the employer must re-employ dismissed workers if the same or equivalent positions are reopened within 15 months of the dismissal date. This re-employment obligation is often overlooked during restructurings that are followed quickly by new hiring. Employers who recruit for equivalent roles within 15 months without first offering re-employment to former employees face claims before the labour court.

For employees who held work permits in Poland, the end of employment triggers a separate notification obligation to the relevant voivodeship office (urząd wojewódzki). Failure to notify may affect the employer's ability to sponsor future work permits. For companies regularly relocating staff, this administrative step should be built into the standard offboarding checklist. Cross-border implications are discussed further in our guide on enforcing a Polish judgment in Poland, which covers enforcement of labour court awards.

Severance payments are subject to income tax above the statutory cap. If a collective agreement provides enhanced severance exceeding the statutory amount, the excess is taxable. Employees should be advised of this at the time of dismissal – ideally in writing – to avoid disputes about net pay expectations.

Frequently asked questions

Q: Does a collective dismissal procedure apply if the employer offers voluntary redundancy packages first?

A: Yes. Voluntary redundancy offers initiated by the employer and accepted by employees count toward the collective dismissal threshold if the underlying reason is economic. The Collective Dismissal Act does not distinguish between forced and voluntary departures when the employer's motivation is restructuring. Employers who use voluntary schemes to stay below the threshold while planning further dismissals risk having both waves counted together within the same 30-day window.

Q: How long does the entire collective dismissal procedure take from start to first dismissal taking effect?

A: At a minimum, the procedure takes approximately 50 days. The consultation period runs for up to 20 days. After consultation ends, the employer sends a second notification to the district labour office. The 30-day standstill period then begins. Employers should also allow time for electing employee representatives if no union or works council exists – this can add up to 10 days before the consultation clock even starts. Total elapsed time from decision to effective dismissal is typically 60 to 70 days.

Q: Can the employer use individual dismissal procedure for some employees and collective procedure for others in the same restructuring?

A: Not if the collective threshold is met. Once the number of planned terminations within a 30-day window crosses the statutory threshold, the collective procedure applies to all terminations in that wave – regardless of whether some are framed as individual dismissals. Attempting to split a restructuring into sub-threshold batches to avoid the collective procedure is a known risk area. Polish labour courts examine the employer's intent and the actual 30-day count when assessing claims.

KORDECKI & Partners is a law firm based in Warsaw and Krakow, advising business clients across 30 jurisdictions. Our team combines expertise in Polish and international law with a practical approach to employment restructuring, collective dismissals, and workforce mobility. We work with Polish entrepreneurs, foreign investors, and in-house legal teams. To discuss your situation, contact info@kordeckipartners.com.